Broadening the reach of dementia risk-reduction initiatives: strategies from dissemination models

Background: Modifiable risk factors for dementia account for 40% of cases worldwide and exert impacts on risk across the life course. To have maximal public health impact, dementia risk-reduction initiatives need to reach a large and diverse audience, including people from a wide range of ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Currently, dementia risk-reduction interventions primarily reach a narrow audience, consisting largely of highly educated older adults from high income countries. Methods: In this commentary, we review established dissemination models to identify strategies that could be used to extend and broaden the reach of dementia risk-reduction initiatives. Three potential reach-broadening strategies can be identified from these models: engaging with distinct user groups; focusing on interpersonal communication; and utilising dissemination agents. Results: Engaging with distinct user groups and utilising dissemination agents show promise for broadening the reach of dementia risk-reduction initiatives, while interpersonal communication has received limited attention in this context. Further evaluation of the impact of interpersonal communication may provide avenues to take advantage of this dissemination method. Conclusions: Based on the reviewed models and data from current risk-reduction initiatives, we suggest that utilising all three of these strategies may most effectively broaden the reach of dementia risk-reduction initiatives. This may promote risk reduction among a larger and more diverse audience, more equitably reducing the global impact of dementia.